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7 pet fads through the decades

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Photo 4 of 9

Photo: Roger Higgins/World Telegram via Wikimedia Commons

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Ocelots, 1960s

While a variety of wild cats are often kept as pets, now-endangered ocelots, or dwarf leopards, were the wild cat par excellence in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to their dainty size and passing resemblance to domesticated cats. (We would be remiss without adding that keeping wild cats as pets, of course, isn’t for everyone and is often considered illegal.)

While it’s unclear where this mini-fad originated, Salvador Dali is perhaps the most famous ocelot owner of that period. He took his pet ocelot Babou with him everywhere, chichi Manhattan restaurants and luxury liners included. (That's the duo shown here, naturally.) The pet ocelot trend even made its way to TV on the mid-1960s crime drama “Honest West” in which the titular private investigator kept an exotic feline fella named Bruce.

Ocelots, 1960s

While a variety of wild cats are often kept as pets, now-endangered ocelots, or dwarf leopards, were the wild cat par excellence in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to their dainty size and passing resemblance to domesticated cats. (We would be remiss without adding that keeping wild cats as pets, of course, isn’t for everyone and is often considered illegal.)

While it’s unclear where this mini-fad originated, Salvador Dali is perhaps the most famous ocelot owner of that period. He took his pet ocelot Babou with him everywhere, chichi Manhattan restaurants and luxury liners included. (That's the duo shown here, naturally.) The pet ocelot trend even made its way to TV on the mid-1960s crime drama “Honest West” in which the titular private investigator kept an exotic feline fella named Bruce.